In Q2 2012, Dell, Inc. (DELL) fell into roughly a tie for third place with Taiwan's Acer, Inc. (TPE:2353) after fast-growing Lenovo Group, Ltd. (HKG:0992) booted it from its perennial second-place spot behind Hewlett Packard Comp. (HPQ). That sales fall resulted in a 22 percent plunge in consumer sales revenue and 8 percent overall revenue drop, despite a good quarter for the enterprise unit.

Michael Dell's company has stumbled into a tie for third place. [Image Source: Forbes]

But CFO and senior VP Brian Gladden is convinced Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows 8 will bail out his chief's struggling firm. He commented to investors in a call:

You'll see new Windows 8 ultrabooks, all-in-one tablets and converged devices in the fourth quarter and headed into next year.

It's not clear what Dell means by "all-in-one" or "converged devices", but he was probably talking to hybrid tablets -- tablets with a keyboard (which may or may not be removable). Also unclear is exactly how Dell plans to differentiate itself from its rivals; Lenovo, HP, and Acer are most definitelypushing Windows 8 product too.

The opinion columnist comments that Dell is suffering an "existential threat", continuing:

However ugly your life gets, just try to put yourself in Michael Dell’s shoes. Imagine what that’s like. Picture yourself at the helm of a company that rakes in $60 billion in annual revenue — and then watch the money evaporating, floating away on a post-PC cloud. You built this company on the theory that computers were a forever-business, that the world would never fall out of love with the PC, and that you would be the guy to supply their fix.

The tragedy is that you were right: The world will never fall out of love with the PC. The PC is still riding high, the PC will be bigger than ever. What blindsided you is how the word “personal computer” would come to be redefined.

The overall premise of the column is that the rise of the tablet is killing Dell. Mr. Manjoo mocks Dell's sales chief's nebulous remarks on his company's tablet timeline from earlier this year, in which he stated, "We have a roadmap for tablets that we haven’t announced yet."

While the criticism may be fair, it's equally important not to neglect that Dell is also failing in traditional PC sales -- a topic Mr. Manjoo surprisingly overlooks.

Tablets, like the ill-fated Dell Streak, are only part of the problem for Dell. [Image Source: Engadget]

Looking at Gartner, Inc.'s (IT) report and the IDC Group report for Q2, one company that jumps out is ASUSTek Computer, Inc. (TPE:2357) who stole the crown for fastest growth from Lenovo (who continues to grow pretty fast itself). ASUSTek -- which has a stable of drool-worthy Windows 8 laptops, tablets, and hybrids waiting in the wings -- grew at a 40 percent clip on a year-to-year basis. A few more quarters like that -- and a few more quarters like Dell's -- and the U.S. PC giant may find itself in fifth place in global sales.

That would be a stunning fall for Dell, which vied for the top spot in global sales for so long.

It's clear tablets are only the start of Dell's problem. From shady sales tactics to a floundering web presence, the problems at Dell are numerous across the board. Dell may look to Windows 8 for salvation, but its failure to execute with current generation designs, inspires little faith that it will be able to execute in the next generation Windows era.

"Game reviewers fought each other to write the most glowing coverage possible for the powerhouse Sony, MS systems. Reviewers flipped coins to see who would review the Nintendo Wii. The losers got stuck with the job." -- Andy Marken